Beef cattle prices are great right now. It seems that each weekly market report establishes a new, all-time record high. My friends in the city kid me about ‘getting rich in the cattle business’ and I have even heard fellow cattleman wonder out loud, “Are they getting too high?”
In 1966, my father sold our yearly crop of calves for the astonishing price of $0.25 per pound. It was astonishing because he had never sold feeder calves for anywhere close to that price in his lifetime and I remember it so well because he thought that things would never be any better. He was so delighted that he went out and bought his first (and only) new pickup truck, ever. I also remember the MSRP sticker price of that truck – $2,395. Based on the weight and price of his calves, it took about 20 calves to pay for it.
I just looked at an ad in our local newspaper for a new truck that would be comparable to the one dad bought back then. I couldn’t find a new one without air-conditioning and a radio (that would make it identical to dad’s), but the comparable make and model had an MSRP of $26,995.00. With today’s feeder cattle prices, it would take about 20 calves to pay for it. AMAZING!
The median price of a new home in 1966 was a shade over $20,000 or about 160 of our family’s calves. Today’s median price of a new home is around $200,000 or about the value of 160 calves at 2014 prices. I could go on and on with the comparisons of tractors that used to cost $10,000 that now cost $100,000, fertilizer that I used to purchase for $100 per ton that now cost $500, fuel, clothes, groceries, etc., etc., etc. But you get the picture.
I’m reminded of a phrase that one of my old agriculture professors would use during the course of almost every lecture. I thought he was pretty wise back then, but the older I get, the more I realize how truly genius he was when he would say, “The more things change, the more they remain the same.”
I sympathize with consumers that struggle with the present cost of meat in the grocery store – that’s where I buy my steaks, burgers and roasts as well. But, if one will conduct a price analysis of beef, pork or poultry with a historical perspective, I think you’ll find that they have risen in price on a fairly even keel with the other things that we all purchase as we go about our daily lives.
I’m also reminded of the late, great cattleman, Mr. Jerry Litton who, as a U.S. Congressman in the 1970s, held hearings in Washington D.C., when consumers were up-in-arms about the ever-increasing price of meat in their local groceries. Mr. Litton created a bit of theater by penning a few cattle on the steps of the Capitol to serve as a backdrop for a press conference where he uttered the famous (at least to all cattlemen) phrase, “Beef too high? Compared to what?”
